ALICE
by Verassi
Summary: It left a trail of mangled corpses in Its wake. It never cared about the lives it took, so long as it emerged victorious, so long as it kept on evolving. It was an advanced life-form, but that was of little consequence to him now. It had destroyed everything he held dear to him. Now, he was going to end It, permanently. He was going to kill It, no matter what the cost.


AN: Okay, first and foremost, I need to put a warning here: this is very graphic and disturbing, so if that upsets you, I would suggest not reading it. I went all out, no holding back so it's pretty dark. Like, I melt a child, I have zero chill in this.

Anyway, now that that's out of the way, I have several people I need to thank. Firstly, thank you Luminoir for giving me the prompt, it changed a lot from your initial ideal, but thank you for giving me the foundation for this fic. Also huge thanks to Sigma Draconis for being a beta and helping with grammar and flow o the fic, you're a , Rzen is in need of a huge thanks. You helped me tweak a few things and gave me lots of encouragements that helped a lot so thank you.

I hope you can enjoy this awfully twisted science-y fiction horror one-shot.

* * *

Deku sat, waiting. It had been a long time coming, but he knew It—or as it called itself, Alice—would come. It had always eluded him, never attacking directly, because even It knew how much of a threat he was. It wasn't dumb, far from it, as It was constantly evolving.

It was a monster, and Deku was determined to end it. Long past the point of mercy, Deku had resolved to bring It down, to kill It.

The sun fell in the sky, highlighting the rustic air in its golden light. The dust had all but settled into the landscape, a desolate plain of red dirt and smokescreens. Civilization had lost the battle, but he was going to win the war. He was going to end this all, he just needed Alice to show up, and he knew It would. Afterall, It had been looking for him for years now. He was one of the last survivors, one of the last humans left.

Wind blew across the flattened desert, rustic sand scorched the land and flew up in clouds. The world had changed so much within fifteen measly years. Humanity had vanished, been destroyed by this being—this ever evolving life form.

Every step they had taken to defeat It had been met with yet another advancement from the monster. It had always been one step ahead, they hadn't even seen It when It first came. There was no telling how many victims It had taken before Its presence had been noted. The way in which It killed Its victims was still unknown, there was never much left, and the cause of death usually varied greatly. A perfect disguise, reflecting light with such precision that It had become invisible. He had known someone with a quirk like that once, a classmate; she had been massacred by the monster, her interior not as invisible as her exterior.

He shook his head of the memory, seeing Tooru look so mangled and disfigured had been a sight he wished to never revisit.

Then, It had evolved. Its camouflage had dulled in favor of morphing Itself into an amalgamation of terrestrial predators. It stood on hind legs, with long, gangly limbs bending backwards, and ashen skin that was held taut against Its figure, a walking nightmare with void filled eyes that took up most of Its face. It had taken a more predatory approach to killing—it left a gruesome imprint on each of Its victims.

The third, and last time, he had laid eyes on Alice, they had had a conversation. It's voice had cracked like static, and It kept changing back to Its native tongue, an alien dialect that he cared not to decipher. It had wanted him then, but had settled on his companion, his dear friend… _Her shrieks of agony still haunted him to this day._

It no doubt wanted him now, but he wasn't going to give himself up without a fight.

There were still people, albeit very few, left who should be able to live without the constant fear that Alice elicited.

A world without Alice… It felt so far away. He could barely recall the times before Alice, before Its reign of terror struck. It had taken down even the strongest of heroes, most elusive of villains, without losing a beat.

Deku didn't know what it was, but It—Alice—was searching for something.

There was a time, long ago, when Deku recalled having dreams of the future. Back when All Might, Toshinori, was still around. Naivety had ruled them then; now, he knew better than to let wishful thinking out weigh reality…

There was but one option left: kill Alice or die trying.

He didn't know if killing It was possible, but he couldn't sit idle while It destroyed his home; It had walked through the land, chemicals burning the air, but It hadn't even flinched as the acid rain burned Its skin. Nothing had been able to kill It, not heroes, not the military and even chemical warfare had done nothing but leave this desolate plain of existence in its wake.

The Earth had been scorched by Its presence; scars were all that remained, deep, bitter scars.

So he waited, knowing It would find him.

He would stop it; he had to, he was Deku—no, he couldn't call himself that anymore. He was no longer a hero, merely a survivor, a human; he was Midoriya Izuku. He knew, with some profound clarity, that Alice would never stop, that It would continue to evolve, to enhance Its own survival until something stopped it.

It was ruthless, a killer without remorse, he had learned that the very first time he met It, when Alice had killed a child in cold blood.

 _It had been his first year as a Pro Hero. He had become quite popular within his first few months; people everywhere had asked for his autograph, stating that he was their favorite up and coming hero. He had gained full control over his quirk as well, becoming something akin to All Might in strength and speed, but still keeping his own persona. He had made his debut, defeated Shigaraki, and things had become relatively peaceful…_

 _He had been happy, then, to be able to help people._

 _Then he met Alice…_

 _She had just been a girl, no older than twelve, with auburn hair and eyes to match. A toothy grin had graced her face. She had been innocent. Alice hadn't cared._

 _She had walked up to him; he had just finished capturing a robber from a convenience store. It had been simple, no altercations, nothing had gone horribly wrong. He had been helping the police when she came by._

 _He hadn't thought much of it, until she tapped him on the leg. He had turned to look down at her bright smile, her curious eyes. He crouched down to meet her, as he often did with younger fans._

 _She had giggled, a bubbly sort of sound that sprang from her mouth when she looked at him. Then she had looked to her side, nodded her head, and turned back to face him._

 _He had found it odd, the way in which she almost seemed to have been looking at someone whom he could not see, but he passed it off as as her childlike imagination._

 _Before he could get a word in, she had spoken up._

" _What do you think of heroes?" she had asked, curiosity bubbling in her eyes._

 _Izuku had been asked this question many times, it shouldn't have surprised him when this little girl asked it, but it had. The way she had asked it, the inflection on the word heroes, it didn't sound right. It didn't sound… human._

 _He had answered with a smile, stating that heroes were important, that they instilled hope in society. However that smile was strained as he noticed the way the girl kept shifting her gaze to her side, nodding or shaking her head as if answering a question._

 _Her eyes had grown wide with hope, a spark of awestruck wonder shone brightly in her honeydew irises. A small giggle erupted from her jovial smile. She had turned away again, started to walk off even, but she stopped when she was a good distance away from him._

 _She turned to him, something cold was laden in her eyes, a shadow fell over her._

" _You're lying. You're a liar," she had bit out_ _,_ _a dark fury echoing in her voice._

 _For a moment, Izuku thought it was her quirk at play. Maybe he had angered her in some way. He tried to assuage her, ask her what was wrong, why she thought he was lying._

 _The anger dissipated, the coldeness seeped from her eyes. She looked impossibly tired in that moment, as if something had sucked the life out of her._

 _ **He hadn't known it then, but he should have taken her and run, run far away. If he had done that, she might still**_ _**be alive right now.**_

 _Her next words caught him off guard. Perhaps, had he been more alert, more aware of the danger present, he would have been able to act sooner, to be faster. If he had done that, then he wouldn't have to visit a gravestone year after year, wondering where it all went wrong._

" _ **I don't think you're a liar. Alice does, and Alice**_ _ **hates**_ _**liars."**_

 _He had asked who Alice was. He shouldn't have._

 _She pointed to her side, explaining how Alice was right next to her._

 _There was no one there. He thought, fleetingly, that Alice might have had some kind of quirk, much like Tooru's, that enabled her to appear invisible._

 _His thoughts were cut off when the girl—he still hadn't asked her name, something which he would come to regret greatly—told him that Alice was quirkless. The way she said it, it was almost as if she was talking for someone else, answering for someone who couldn't._

 _The cold fury was back in her gaze, a desolate expanse of black veins encroaching on the tawny gold irises. Her sclera had become pools of inky blackness, slowly swallowing up the golden hues._

 _The air around her changed, shifting and morphing as if it were under intense heat. A warbled, distorted voice rang in his head. He couldn't make out any of the words, the language sounding foreign, almost alien to his ears._

 _Something hit his face, a prick that spread throughout his eyes, down to his nose, then continued past his throat. It was suffocating, burning and warping his senses. He blinked rapidly, trying to dispel the irritation from his eyes; he sniffed and huffed, trying to rid the intense burning from his nose; he coughed, trying to overcome the suffocating sensation from his throat. Nothing worked._

 _He fell down to his knees, unable to stay in his crouched position any longer with the suffocation taking its toll on him. He looked up at the girl; his heart stopped._

 _Her eyes were bleeding, red streaks staining her cheeks as if they were tears. Her body was frozen in terror, a perfect sculpture of fear radiating from her being. He could see the screams clawing up her throat, dying on her tongue, and withering away like ashes on her lips._

 _Her hands trembled at her sides, spasming out in a systematic frenzy. It was clear to Izuku that she was not in control of her body right now, that she didn't know what was going on, and that she was in immense pain._

 _That last thought horrified him. He was a hero, he was supposed to protect people like her from danger, to keep her safe. Here he was though, writhing in his own agony, completely ignoring the civilian in pain standing right in front of him. He choked out a few breaths, forcing himself to rise to his feet._

 _The air around him grew heavy, heating up and forcing him to succumb to its persuasion. He resisted it, not willing to let himself be won over by something this trivial. Around him, the world had stopped, as if in a trance._

 _He walked towards her, closing the distance. He was a few meters away when he saw it. A flash, almost like a glitch, mangled the air around her. He saw eyes, piercing, slitted and blank, an expanse of black glittering with galaxies, with knowledge, with an insatiable bloodlust. They blinked once then disappeared altogether._

 _He was reaching out towards her when her shriek finally tore free from her throat. It was harrowing, a gutteral screech that was drenched in agony. He saw her eyes, so filled with terror and horror, roll into the back of her head, the blackness that had devoured them receding until only ivory white remained._

 _Her twitching had ceased, though the reasoning behind that only caused him to gag. Her skin was melting, like wax dripping down the wick of a candle. It pooled in gunks at her feet, disfigured her childlike face, molting it into a horrible canvas of raw skin, bubbling in splotches and cracking at the seams._

 _He felt his blood curdle, boiling within his veins. He couldn't get to her fast enough. His quirk wouldn't activate, some unknown source was blocking it. Her cries, her gut wrenching pleas for help drove knives into his heart. He couldn't get to her. He was running, as fast as he could, and yet, she remained just out of his reach._

 _Static filled the air. Warbled, disjointed clicks once again filled his head. It drove him insane, an inane babbling that was equal parts incoherent and nonsensical. He made out one phrase in the chaos, two measly words, but they filled him with dread._

 _ **Another Failure…**_

 _Shivers went down his spine unbidden. This…thing…whatever It was, had done this before. The realization coated him with misery._

 _Her screams died down to a pitiful whimper, before dwindling away all together. He could see her skull now, the white peeking out miserably from her charred skin. Her hair was all but gone, burnt away into smoldering ash, only a few measly patches were left. The smell was awful, a pungent wretchedness that permeated the air, staining it with a metallic scent, something akin to blood. He could see her terror stricken face, her big hazel eyes brimmed with despair as they slowly drained of life._

 _He heard a crackling, a sizzling spark like embers jumping from a flame, emit from her. He could see her bones cracking, falling apart as she stood there. He saw the blood drip down her torso in a waterfall of red. It was as though something had tried to claw their way out of her stomach. Her organs were no longer confined within her; he watched in slow motion as they slid out of her stomach from the scratched out openings, smoke and blood gushing out in hoards._

 _She went limp, folding in on herself just as Izuku finally reached her, but by then it was too late. She had already faded from the world, her life had already been extinguished in horrible agony as he could do nothing but watch._

 _Around him, the world had shot back into focus. Things had begun to move at a normal pace. It was odd, he had thought, the way the world had almost seemed to glitch. That being, whatever it was, It wasn't human, nor was It friendly._

 _Green orbs of pure woe stared down helplessly at the black mass that had been the child. She had only been a child, no older than twelve. Right before his eyes, she had…he didn't know what to describe it as. It had been horrifying to watch helplessly as the life slowly left her. No longer did she even look human—her body was not recognizable anymore._

 _A grotesque amalgamation of gangly limbs, broken, with ashen skin flaking off the singed muscles, and bloody innards drenching the concrete with red. Every once in a while her body would twitch, a spasm which brought forth more blood, and an oily black substance to ooze down her body._

 _Gagging, Izuku had had to look away. Faintly, he heard the sounds of other people. They had finally become aware of the situation._

 _The police officers had asked what had happened. They hadn't turned away for more than a second when the agonized screams reached their ears. The deed had been done by then; no one else had had to watch the horror, they had all only seen the end result._

 _The body, or what once had been a body, of the little girl, laid out in a pile of ash and rot. A sickening red and yellowing peeked through from the charred skin, showcasing the inflamed internal organs. Hair, singed and brittle, struck out in tufts, pieces of raw skin still clinging to the follicles. Her body hadn't even held the form of a human any longer, having melted even the bones; her skull, broken and black, was the only distinguishable feature. There was simply nothing left of the bubbly girl that had been._

 _The police hadn't had to watch the scene unfold, seen the pain in her eyes as she slowly—though with unprecedented speed in real time—dissolved in front of him. To him it had lasted hours, to everyone else, mere seconds had passed by. It was that… thing, that monster: Alice. It had done this, It had murdered a child in cold blood. Alice… that thing, whatever It was, it wasn't human._

 _He had to find It, stop It from harming anyone else, but… It had vanished. There was no trace, nothing to help him locate It._

 _The officers hadn't noticed It either. He had had to explain to them what he had seen, what had happened._

 _The girl couldn't be identified, there was simply nothing left to identify. She hadn't been with parents, and the most they could do was look into the database for any missing children from the area. Nothing had come up._

 _There was no family to alert, no closure for anyone involved in the case. She was just a victim, an unknown person._

 _She was just a nameless soul._

 _ **He hadn't known her name.**_

 _ **Year after year, without fail, he made his way to her grave. She wasn't the first victim, nor was she the last, but she was the first one that was within his reach. Time withered her gravestone, but still he visited. She was a child, young and much too innocent; there wasn't even a name for him to grieve.**_

It had been so long since his first encounter. Now, things were different. The world wasn't as naive towards the event anymore. Alice had made their presence known, had multiplied their numbers, and destroyed nations. Their hatred towards humanity had only grown over the years.

It's a bleak, desolate world that Deku lives in now. Humanity was at its end. Deku hadn't given up yet, he couldn't, not when there were still things worth fighting for, people worth saving.

Alice cared not for human life, or any sort of lifeform. They were indiscriminate with their kills. Their search for a compatible host, something that could sustain them was futile, everything they touched burned to dust. There was no solace with them on the rampage.

He had run into Alice only thrice, once that very first time back when life was simple, when the future was bright. They had tainted that future with the blood of an innocent child. He couldn't forgive It for that.

The second time had been two years following Alice's first appearance. He had been on a covert mission for an underground drug ring. He wasn't an underground hero, these weren't the type of cases he took, but a friend from his high school days, Tsukuyomi, had asked for help.

Had he known then what would happen next, he never would have agreed. He would have advised them to let it be, to never go into that abandoned mine.

" _Tsukuyomi, are we sure this is the place?" Deku inquired. It wasn't that he doubted the Jet Black Hero, but something felt off… wrong about the place. A mine just didn't make sense for a place for a drug deal to go down._

" _I understand your hesitation, Deku, but the tip we got leads here. I trust this information, and if it's correct, we'll be able to take down one of the leading sellers of Trigger," Tsukuyomi insisted._

 _He nodded in agreement, getting ready to enter the mine, a foreboding shadow looming over him._

 _The mine itself was in shambles, having been abandoned for many years now. The mine had once been used as a coal reserve, but now all that remained were the decaying wood archways, and the broken lanterns that hung at the side of the cave._

 _It smelled of rot, a stench akin to sulfur that diluted the musty air, suffocating him with its putrid stench. Even with the flashlights they had, it still felt oppressively dark, an ominous threat lingering in the shadows._

 _Deku knew the situation at hand was serious, but he couldn't help but offer up some light banter to lift the mood a little. "So, Tokoyami, how've you been? I haven't seen you since high school."_

 _Tokoyami sighed, "Yes, it has been a while hasn't it? I have been quite well recently, I—" He cut himself off, stopping in his tracks. "Dark shadow, perimeter check." His voice was commanding as he said it, holding an authoritative edge._

 _Dark Shadow, the being of darkness that dwelled within Tokoyami, nodded its head in response, and started to check their perimeter._

 _There was a cry; it came from beyond the darkness._

 _It was inhuman, a screech that changed pitches as it rang throughout the mine, shaking the wooden structures that held the mine up. There was a rumble, some deep chested bellow that cascaded through the mine shaft._

 _Out of the darkness, there came a soft glow just as the lights lining the mine went out, and black encroached upon them._

 _Deku could see it, the pair of eyes, glittering like stars in an eternal night, glaring pointedly at them. Beside him, Tsukuyomi stood frozen, fear having taken over him._

 _Eyes like stars stood in darkness with no outline of a body. A long standing memory flashed in Deku's mind, a girl, no more than twelve with a friend no one else could see, burning from the inside out. There had been eyes there then, too. An infinity of the night sky displayed in two slitted orbs._

 _The same eyes now stood, staring at them._

 _No words were said, none needed to be for both the heroes to understand the danger of the situation. That thing, whatever it was, wasn't human, and It wasn't friendly._

 _It stalked forward. A disjointed mass of limbs bending in obscure directions, and flesh that refracted the low light, made its way towards them. There wasn't a particular way that Deku could describe it. While It walked on two legs, It appeared to be more animalistic than human. Crackling, Its voice like static, an alien language obscured the air around It._

 _Of the few words that could be deciphered from the otherwise foreign tongue, none were auspicious._

" _M...ore. Need mo...re. A suitable hos...t?" Its discombobulated speech scratched and grated against the air._

 _A sudden spike of fear drove itself through Deku. He casted a side glance at Tsukuyomi, eyes widening at the sight._

 _The…thing was no longer before them, It had evaporated in the dark, though Its eyes remained staring, uncaring as It focused Its gaze on the Jet Black Hero._

 _Just as before, with the little girl, Deku could only watch in terror as time froze to a standstill._

 _Tsukuyomi, or rather, Tokoyami, a friend, someone he knew, was now in the same position as that little girl. Activating One for All he leapt into action. It didn't matter. His movements were too slow, just like that time, or rather, Its movements were too quick._

 _His eyes went wide at the sight, two manic pools of green taking in a horrid display of bones snapping under flesh, muscles spasming around joints, and blood dripping from every orifice._

 _A smell, like sulfur and iron mingled within the air, rotting it with the foul stench._

 _Tokoyami didn't even have time to scream before his neck snapped at an odd angle. The way it snapped wasn't natural. The bone jutted out of the front of his jugular, dragging his trachea alongside it as it fell from his throat._

 _He watched, in paralysed terror, as Tokoyami's eyes bulged in fear before rolling into the back of his head._

 _From his stomach, Dark Shadow tried to escape, only to find himself burning out, a fire crawling through the darkness. Dark Shadow went out like a candle in the wind, once a being of pure darkness, rendered useless under a blazing flame._

 _There was a crunching sound, sparks like firecrackers ran rivulettes throughout the mining cavern. The noise echoed, bouncing off the walls, shaking the ground before settling in Tokoyami's bones._

 _Deku could see it, the way Tokoyami's bones cracked and splintered. They pushed against his arms, splaying out like fractured branches on a tree. White protruded from his flesh, red highlighting ivory._

 _The black cowl that adorned Tsukuyomi had all but burnt away, exposing every gruesome, fatal blow It_ _dealt to his friend. Slicing, like metal scraping metal, could be heard in the air. Something small, and impossibly sharp, almost like a claw, pierced Tokoyami's stomach from the inside, stretching the skin until it broke, then proceeded to slit his stomach open. Intestines fell from the open wound, collapsing in a heap on the floor, followed by the limp form of Tokoyami. Pulsating, thick masses of blood coagulated around the fresh organs as they spread out on the floor, before pooling around him._

 _Steam rose, and the smell of burnt flesh, putrid and rotting, rose with it._

 _Its eyes, that same slitted abyss of darkness, stared at him for a moment. Everything was clear in that instant, that brief moment when their eyes met, he understood. It was pleased. It wanted death; insanity sparked in Its eyes, clear madness spreading beyond It, encapsulating the being as It ran past him, faster than light._

 _It wasn't terrestrial, and It wanted to eradicate the human race as it stood. Why It left him alive, standing there in the abandoned tunnels of the mines was an incomprehensible puzzle that he had yet to solve._

 _Horror seized him as the being escaped. He was unable to move until It had fully disappeared in the darkness of the mine. He stood, terror stricken over the events that had just transpired, an uncomfortable weight settling in his chest._

 _ **Part of him regrets not having become better friends with Tokoyami, while another part is glad they hadn't been close—he hates that part, because if he had been closer, then maybe things would have turned out differently, maybe he wouldn't be standing alone now. Watching people die—while he watched helplessly, regardless of their familiarity to him—had been unbearable… it nearly broke him. Again and again, he was forced to watch them suffer, while he remained standing, helpless. For however much it had hurt, he wished he didn't have to face It alone, because watching one of his closest friends die while screaming his name, had been harrowing; it had been enough to break him completely.**_

Izuku curled his mangled hand into a fist. It—Alice—had taken so much from him, and It would take even more, unless he stopped It.

Sighing, he shook his head slowly, a burning knot coiling in his chest.

It would be here soon.

He thought of all the lives lost, everyone who had tried—who had failed—to stop It.

He gritted his teeth, composure giving way to frustration.

 _So many lives were lost. So many people have been killed, murdered ruthlessly by this… uncaring creature, this monster. By Alice._

Izuku looked out at the horizon, taking in the desolate landscape. There wasn't much to see, mostly red dirt and smog burning in the sky, the smell of rubber wafted through the air. Alice would come, he knew that much.

It was, afterall, after him.

It was no coincidence that he survived all these years, that _It_ let him live. It was waiting, evolving, as it so often did, because it knew… It knew he was the final challenge.

Once he was gone there would be absolutely nothing left. The few humans that remained didn't stand a chance, but he did… he was a threat.

Why It didn't take him out first, when he was unaware of Its presence, he didn't know, but it had left him be. They had both evolved much since It first landed here.

It was a lifeform in continuous evolution. He had no doubt that It was superior to him in many ways, but that had never stopped Izuku before—it wouldn't stop him now. No matter the odds, he was going to fight, even if they were all but extinct now, he was a hero.

The world needed him now more than ever if humanity hoped to survive.

A shift in the air alerted him to company.

He turned, half expecting to see Alice waiting there, but there was no one. There was nothing but the desert that stretched for miles and miles.

A soft breeze ran through him, bringing on a fresh scent, something new and full of life; it reminded him of someone he once knew. A shiver crawled down his spine, and he briefly wondered if a ghost had run past him. _A ghost from his past, someone he knew well… and watched die an agonizingly slow death._

He was suddenly reminded of his biggest regret—his biggest failure: Ochako. He could see her, looking at him with such pain, such terror, a pleading look in her eyes as her life force slowly ebbed away. It had been three years already… since he had lost her…

" _Deku, come on!" Her voice was so enthusiastic; he couldn't help but smile._

" _Don't you think you're a little too excited about this, Uravity? I mean, we're on patrol…" he tapered off, letting her guide him to wherever she was going._

 _She huffed, "Come on, it'll be fine." Her voice stood resolute, determined to show him this 'magnificent place' she had discovered._

 _Obediently—because when Ochako, or rather, Uravity, was determined to show you something, nothing was going to stop her—he let her guide him through the streets until they were standing in front of a small, quaint bakery._

 _He looked up at the sign. "A bakery?"_

 _She beamed at him, "Yes! It has the absolute best cupcakes. Come on Deku, you_ _have_ _to try them."_

" _Okay, fine, but just one. We're on patrol, you know," he sighed as they entered the little pastry shop._

 _ **They shouldn't have entered the shop. Red was never a color that should have decorated that scene.**_

 _There was a ding as they opened the door; the fresh scent of cookies and vanilla wafted through the air. It was pleasant. It was warm, and reminded him of simpler times. Now, though, he had seen the world for what it was, and not what he had envisioned it to be; the world was cruel and incredibly dark. He had lost many a friends to unspeakable horrors._

 _The strong scent of cinnamon and honey assaulted his nose. The sweet scent lulled him into a euphoric trance._

 _ **Soon the smell of iron would dominate the scene.**_

" _Uravity! Deku! What are two pros like you doing here in my little bakery?" An old lady, with thinning gray hair set in a tight bun and an pink apron, sprinkled with flour, asked endearingly._

 _She was obviously a fan, and they both had smiled at her warmly. Her mocha colored skin had been dusted with more flour and specks of cinnamon; it was obvious she had been baking before they had entered._

 _Uravity chuckled sheepishly, twiddling with her hands as she spoke, "Well, I found this place the other day, and you just had the_ _best_ _cupcakes ever so I thought I'd show my friend," she gestured to Deku, who waved awkwardly, "your_ _amazing_ _cupcakes!" She finished in an embarrassed huff._

 _The old lady smiled kindly, a genuine grin that lit up the room. Her brown eyes sparkled with a young mirth, showcasing the happiness she felt from Uravity's praise._

 _ **Soon that grin would be replaced by a blank look, and those mirth filled eyes would be dull, staring at nothing as they fell uselessly to the floor.**_

" _Well I don't know about 'best cupcakes' ever, but I try," she chuckled. "Here," she grabbed two of the cupcakes she had on display, and put them on the counter, "try these ones. I made them fresh this morning. They're a new recipe."_

 _Deku started to pull out his wallet, ready to pay the kind old lady when she put her hand up._

" _No need, you're a hero, that's enough payment for me."_

 _He wanted to protest, but relented when he saw her smile. It had been so kind, so earnest, so genuine. As much as he hated it when people offered him free things—he wasn't a hero so that he could leech off the public for free things, he could pay for them like everyone else—he couldn't bring himself to deny her offer. It would be rude._

 _He and Uravity were at the counter, about to take their cupcakes when the bell dinged, announcing another customer; the soft scent of freshly baked cookies ran through the air again._

 _There was no shiver that ran up his back, no spine tingling sensation that alerted him to danger; there had been no warning. One second he was with Uravity, enjoying a break from their daily duties as pro heroes, and the next second there was thump. They looked up, not seeing the old lady smiling back at them._

 _The distinct scent of iron invaded his nose, mingling with the cinnamon and vanilla smells, tainting them._

 _With wide eyes he turned his gaze over the counter and saw her limp form, lying in an ever growing pool of red. Her smile was vacant, and her eyes were blank, no longer holding a light in them._

 _There was a clatter from behind them. Deku spun on his heel quickly, scanning the area. His eyes landed on an almost humanoid figure. The proportions were off, skin a little too pale, and the face just wasn't… right. The eyes were too big, a black expanse on the otherwise pale face. There was no nose on it and its mouth was warped, twisted in a weird fashion. It didn't have hair, but there was something that covered the top of its head, almost akin to a fin that flopped over half of its face, covering half of one eye._

 _He knew immediately who it was… what It was._

 _It stood there, the tables which had held up pyramids of desserts were all knocked to the floor, scattering the treats everywhere._

 _Deku took up a defensive stance and hissed at Uravity, "Get behind me, now." It was an order, not a suggestion._

 _Uravity looked as though she was going to protest, but something about his unnerved expression must have tipped her off, because she just nodded and took up her own defensive stance, behind him._

 _It just stood there, moving in disjointed ways. It was unnerving, but Deku wanted to find out more about it. It had never given him time to analyze it, but now, It seemed content to just sit idle, waiting for him to make a move._

 _Its eyes, that same desolate blank slitted mass that he had seen too many times for his liking, stared at him, daring him to defy It. He didn't know what it was… but a memory corrupted his thinking. A little girl with honeydew eyes, and a grin like spring, filled with life and warmth, giggling at him as she asked him about heroes._

 _Heroes… so many had died by the hands of this… this monster. Did It even have a name?_

… _Alice. That little girl had called It Alice._

" _Alice," his voice quaked, but stayed determined._

 _It turned Its head, trying to comprehend what he was saying. After a moment It smiled back, a wicked grin that plastered itself across Its face in a horrifyingly disfigured way. "A...L...I...C...E?"_

 _There was a static that filled the air, something like crackling or sizzling sparked throughout the air. Uravity tensed beside him._

 _The thing gazed upon them curiously. It struggled to form words, the accent coming off was alien in nature, and it struck Deku that this thing, this monster, that he had encountered far too many times might actually not be of this world. The thought wasn't new, he had entertained the idea, but now, looking at It, seeing It in a different form then the previous two times, he had to take the thought seriously. This thing was alien in every aspect, so it made sense to think It was an alien. Something not from this world._

" _I… am not o..f," Its voice took on a deranged tone, "this… plane...t. Y...ou are inferior; I must erad...i..cate you lower lifefo...rms." The static and buzz that surrounded Its words made understanding It difficult, but Deku was able to decipher it._

 _Beside him Uravity stood, there was a fury in her gaze, Deku noted. Perhaps she had met the monster before as well?_

" _You… you killed them. All of them, for no reason," thick with emotion, Uravity's voice wavered._

 _It jerked Its head ever so slightly towards her. "T...hey were," Its voice seemed to shift then, like changing a radio signal, and while the tone remained warped, It wasn't struggling to form the words anymore, "inferior specimens. Their life did not matter. The only thing that matters is surviving, evolving and conquering."_

 _Both Deku and Uravity took a breath, unnerved by the hostility in its voice._

" _Wh-what are you?" Deku hated how he stuttered over the sentence._

 _It looked at him. "A lifeform in continuous evolution: Alice. That little girl, she gave me the name. I do not understand you humans, and your need to name things that do not need a name."_

 _Tensing, Deku's hands twitched. This thing, Alice—It didn't deserve a name—just regarded him with cold eyes, a blank expanse that held much more knowledge than he could ever hope to comprehend._

 _There was a shift in the air, a glitch and suddenly It was gone. Deku hoped that It would leave, that It would spare him the sight of Its cruel nature, but time began to freeze again._

 _He knew it was a hopeless endeavor, but he fired up One for All, moving to guard Uravity—It wasn't going to murder another friend of his._

 _Uravity, Ochako, had her hands up, ready to defend herself. Her eyes were wary, she knew what It was capable of. The slightest breeze gave away Its location, and Ochako went on the offense._

 _Before she could blink, something sliced upwards; her hands fell down, motionless, detached on the ground._

 _There was no scream of pain, Ochako was too much in shock to do anything. Her quirk relied on her hands, without them, there was only so much she could do. Deku knew she was a strong fighter, she didn't need her quirk to be effective, but she couldn't fight with open wounds like that. She would just bleed out._

 _Ochako seemed to understand this too, but she couldn't move. She was frozen, whether in a state of shock, fear, or trapped by Its uncanny ability to slow time he didn't know._

 _It was nowhere to be seen, but Deku knew It wasn't done. It was nearby, waiting. It was toying with them, he knew, toying with him. It had always left him alone, and now was no different._

 _It hurt more this time, seeing Ochako in pain. She was a close friend, they had been through thick and thin together. He wasn't going to let her die, not like the others._

" _Ochako," he tried to scream, not bothering to call her by her hero name, those didn't matter right now, but his voice was swallowed up by an infinite nothing._

 _Two eyes, laden with stars, stared at him, then they were gone, leaving him with hazy vision and short of breath. Fire fled up his bones, itching through his skin as it crawled up his throat, burning him from within. His eyes pricked, hot tears welled up in his green eyes._

 _Ochako was standing there, horror flaring up in her brown eyes._

 _He didn't see anything, but all of sudden her form was falling; he couldn't move. He was stuck, frozen, while her legs were spliced off. Blood, fresh, rich and bright red, spilled around her, making a pool as her body fell limp. Her feet were still standing up, but her body had fallen to the floor; the bone had been cut clean through—white ringed by red, outlined by flesh._

 _She was screaming now, blood falling like tears from her eyes, but he heard nothing. Her voice was consumed by some unseen vacuum._

 _Deku didn't know what to do; she was right there, crying out for help, and he was unable to help her. He couldn't stand it, his legs felt weak, but they refused to fall, held up by the invisible wall that kept him frozen._

" _Ochako," he choked out. He could feel the cracks in his voice, even if no sound came out._

 _She was trying to drag herself away from It, fear the most prominent feature on her face. This wasn't right, something was wrong. It was toying with them, It was savoring their anguish. The knowledge made him furious. He needed to find It, to end It, before It ended them._

 _It didn't show itself again, instead, Deku was forced to watch in an agonizing slowness as Ochako turned her head and let out a scream as something pierced through the back of her neck, her mouth, and in between her eyes. Three points, three claw-like needles that snapped together, ripping her throat and face apart. The skin tore, muscles and tissue exposed, bones crunched, and blood spilled._

 _Her tongue, a swirl of blood and saliva still on it, fell, torn ruthlessly from her mouth._

 _She was crying; she was in excruciating pain._

 _He was crying; this was torture._

 _This thing had killed—murdered—an innocent girl in front of him, and then years later had done the same to a friend of his, now It was trying to murder one of his closest friends. He couldn't stand it. He wouldn't stand it._

 _He fought back against his frozen state, forcing himself to overcome this insurmountable barrier. He was winning, slowly, but surely, he was moving. He forced himself to take a step, then another._

 _It attacked once more._

 _On her stomach, Ochako looked up at him, a plea in her eyes. She was scared, she didn't want to die. Her face, now contorted and mutilated, gazed upon him like a wounded deer. Her voice was indecipherable, but he didn't need to hear her to know what she was saying. "Deku?"_

 _Blood fell from her eyes, her hair plastered to her forehead, and her voice was… harrowing, a broken mess of garbled sounds that led to blood bubbling from her broken face. Without a tongue, and large part of her throat torn asunder, it was amazing she was still conscious, let alone able to communicate at all—even if he could only guess at what she was saying._

 _How was she still alive? A claw had pierced through her skull, through her brain, and yet, she was looking at him with glazed eyes and a slack jaw—it was unhinged and broken in several places._

" _Ochako…" his voice pleaded, he could hear the tears in his tone._

 _She trembled, her back jerked before the claw was back, shredding her costume apart as it torn into her back; he heard a snap and saw a glitch in the air. He looked closely and saw It. With Its claw-like hands It ripped her spine from her back. It dropped the spine and vanished._

 _He was moving again, time had gone back to normal. He was at her side, not looking at the mess that had become her back. It sank lower now, with no spine to hold it up, the white bone had shattered upon impact with the ground. Remnants of her spinal cord could be seen scattered around the floor, mixing with the forgotten desserts._

" _Ochako…" it was the only word he could say. She was no longer living, he could tell by her limp figure. Oxygen no longer pumped through her veins. He stayed with her; he couldn't leave, not even when the police got there._

 _He had explained the situation with a detached tone. He knew what he had to do: It, Alice, was a threat to humankind, and It had not come in peace._

 _He would have to destroy It before It destroyed everyone he cared about—however many few there were left._

 _ **Ochako's funeral had been held a week later; it was closed casket. He had stayed long after it ended, staring with blank, unfocused eyes into the ground in which she rested. Regret had taken many forms that day, a constant companion that never let him forget his error that day. Two lives had been lost for no reason in an empty bloodshed, a needless massacre. His biggest regret had been not dying alongside ber—if he couldn't save his friends, he didn't deserve to be a hero.**_

This was the end. Izuku knew that, yet he refused to acknowledge it. He had decided that he was going to fight; Alice had to be stopped at all cost, and somewhere along the way, he had became the last defense for humanity.

Alice had let him live for a reason, that much he knew.

Each time he had run across It, he had been left alive. The first time could be written off as a coincidence, since It had… murdered that child only, not bothering with the police officers that were present, but the second time was not the same.

Tokoyami and him had been alone. It had appeared, showed itself to them, then murdered Tokoyami while he could only watch, helplessly.

It had let him live then. Izuku knew that if Alice had wanted him dead, he wouldn't be here, alive, right now, but the question remained: why had It let him live?

Even with Uraraka, It had made a point to let him live. It had taunted him then, mutilating Ochako, keeping her alive and in agony as he forced himself to her side.

It had been Alice's way of saying that It could kill him whenever, that It was just toying with him right now.

The heat was blistering, the sun having decided to beat down on him relentlessly. The wind only brought forth more heat.

This land was to be the final battleground, a desolate desert of rustic sand that was miles from any known civilization. He stood, waiting for It to come find him. He knew It would.

Alice wanted to end him just as he wanted to end It.

The difference between them was immense, Izuku knew that, but that didn't matter. There was too much at stake for him to care about the odds.

A glitch in the air notified him of Its presence.

Finally… the end was here.

A showdown, one on one. Him versus Alice. Humanity versus alien.

It stepped out of the air, as if the glitch were a curtain It had been hiding behind. It looked almost human now, but Its limbs were still disproportioned, the arms too long, the legs jointed backwards. Its eyes still carried stars within them, burning brightly, and so far away.

"It's just you and me now," he addressed the being.

Alice regarded him curiously. "You still fight? Your friends are gone, but you still stand. Why?" It asked, head tilting and voice warping, twisting in all the wrong places. There was actual curiosity in Its words though, something that disturbed Izuku to no end.

Alice had never shown any type of emotion, besides a wicked grin or insatiable bloodlust. It had been completely incapable of showing a human emotion—It wasn't human, so why was It now showing emotion?

The explanation rang loud and clear in his head: It had evolved again. It was manipulating him to gain insight on his weaknesses. This being, this alien, It was smart, smarter than him, and probably all of humanity combined.

That didn't matter now though, all that mattered was that It was stopped. Izuku was going to be the one to stop It, to end It, even if he died in the process. In all honesty, this was no time for bravery. It had let him live for so long, he could have just stayed hidden, and lived out the rest of his life without Its company—but Izuku had always wanted to be a hero, and heroes were brave; the choice was obvious to him.

Regardless of his own feelings, he had a duty to protect people, and killing Alice was the only way to do that. He fired up One for All, for perhaps the last time, he subconsciously thought.

There were so many question he had, but one look at Alice told him that he was never going to find answers.

Perhaps he was okay with that, sometimes not knowing was better.

Sometimes it was the unanswered questions that gave the most hope.

He would never know what Alice really was, where It had come from, what It wanted, but he would end It. He would bring an end to Its tyranny.

So many lives had been lost for no reason other than to satiate It. They were at the end of the line now, a winner take all scenario. Either he wins and humanity survives, or he dies and Alice would bring an end to the world. Maybe It would leave, find another planet to ravage to evolve in, and continue Its rampage, but Izuku didn't care about that.

In these moments, Izuku only cared about his own reasons for fighting. He cared about that little girl that he never learned the name of; he cared about Tokoyami, a friend that he wished he had gotten to know better; he cared about Ochako, a close friend who he watched die a slow, agonizing death.

He was going to fight for them. Whatever the outcome, he was going out with a bang, not a whimper.

Green lightning crackled around him, the energy of One for All running electricity through his veins.

Alice saw his determination, and met it with their own.

It wasn't going to run this time; It got in a battle stance, finally ready to face the only human It had ever let slip by.

Izuku knew he was outmatched. There was only one outcome that was inevitable.

Still, without hesitation, Izuku charged It, ready to fight until the end.

* * *

AN: Thank you for reading this, if you managed to finish it. It was... an experience to write. I've never written gore so I was surprised at how much I liked it? Like I personally hate watching gore, but writing it? I guess I was fine with that. Please leave a review and tell me what you thought, I love hearing what you guys have to say, seriously.

anyway, until next time,

Vera~


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